Momentous occasion
Much needs to be done before Petaling Jaya becomes a disabled-friendly city.
WHEEL POWER by ANTHONY THANASAYAN
LAST week was incredible! On Tuesday, I, together with 23 other Petaling Jaya councillors, was sworn in to our official posts.
At 8am on that day, the PJ City Council van was at my house. It had a wheelchair-lift to load my wheelchair into the vehicle. After my wheels were firmly secured by safety belts, the 10-minute ride began.
I could not help getting choked up over all that was happening, considering what an honour it was for me to be the first Malaysian in a wheelchair to be elected a city councillor. It was a milestone and a victorious moment for me, one that I could share with every disabled Malaysian in the country.
MBPJ deserves credit for its brand new disabled-friendly van which is available for free to the disabled and the poor in PJ.
Transportation remains a major problem for the physically handicapped. I hope every local council in the country will follow suit by providing at least one vehicle, for a start, for its handicapped residents.
On the way to the MBPJ headquarters, I could see that there was much to be done before PJ becomes a disabled-friendly city. The area surrounding the building, with its hostile and unfriendly pavements and public utilities, the disabled-friendly carparks in the wrong places and the uneven flooring inside the building are just some of the things that need fixing.
At the first meeting, I had requested for help from everyone to transform PJ into a model city for all disabled persons, be they the blind, Deaf, people with learning disabilities, epileptics or stroke victims. What a delight it was to receive a thumping applause from everybody.
And Thursday also saw me planting my first tree in Taman Jaya for MBPJ’s Go Green event. I was thrilled when PJ Mayor Datuk Mohamad Roslan Sakiman invited me to plant a tree for the occasion. I was glad that the mayor had not forgotten me in the exercise that required every councillor to plant their own tree.
Because Taman Jaya is inaccessible to wheelchair-users, one of the councillors volunteered to look after my tree daily during his morning jogs in the public park.
My job is to get the garden – and all others in PJ – to be fully accessible to all, especially persons with disabilities. I have been living next to the park since I was a teenager, yet I had little chance to access it as it was not disabled-friendly.
The image of a person in a wheelchair, pouring water over a newly-planted tree in a local government event, will go a long way towards encouraging more families to come out and participate in society, along with their disabled siblings, children or elderly parents.
Saturday was the mass swearing-in day for all Selangor state councillors at the Jubli Perak Hall in Shah Alam. Whilst Gurdip Kaur (Selayang) and I were delighted to receive our certificates from the Selangor Mentri Besar, we were disappointed to find the building’s toilets inaccessible to our wheelchairs.
We need to rectify this at once.
Much needs to be done before Petaling Jaya becomes a disabled-friendly city.
WHEEL POWER by ANTHONY THANASAYAN
LAST week was incredible! On Tuesday, I, together with 23 other Petaling Jaya councillors, was sworn in to our official posts.
At 8am on that day, the PJ City Council van was at my house. It had a wheelchair-lift to load my wheelchair into the vehicle. After my wheels were firmly secured by safety belts, the 10-minute ride began.
I could not help getting choked up over all that was happening, considering what an honour it was for me to be the first Malaysian in a wheelchair to be elected a city councillor. It was a milestone and a victorious moment for me, one that I could share with every disabled Malaysian in the country.
MBPJ deserves credit for its brand new disabled-friendly van which is available for free to the disabled and the poor in PJ.
Transportation remains a major problem for the physically handicapped. I hope every local council in the country will follow suit by providing at least one vehicle, for a start, for its handicapped residents.
On the way to the MBPJ headquarters, I could see that there was much to be done before PJ becomes a disabled-friendly city. The area surrounding the building, with its hostile and unfriendly pavements and public utilities, the disabled-friendly carparks in the wrong places and the uneven flooring inside the building are just some of the things that need fixing.
At the first meeting, I had requested for help from everyone to transform PJ into a model city for all disabled persons, be they the blind, Deaf, people with learning disabilities, epileptics or stroke victims. What a delight it was to receive a thumping applause from everybody.
And Thursday also saw me planting my first tree in Taman Jaya for MBPJ’s Go Green event. I was thrilled when PJ Mayor Datuk Mohamad Roslan Sakiman invited me to plant a tree for the occasion. I was glad that the mayor had not forgotten me in the exercise that required every councillor to plant their own tree.
Because Taman Jaya is inaccessible to wheelchair-users, one of the councillors volunteered to look after my tree daily during his morning jogs in the public park.
My job is to get the garden – and all others in PJ – to be fully accessible to all, especially persons with disabilities. I have been living next to the park since I was a teenager, yet I had little chance to access it as it was not disabled-friendly.
The image of a person in a wheelchair, pouring water over a newly-planted tree in a local government event, will go a long way towards encouraging more families to come out and participate in society, along with their disabled siblings, children or elderly parents.
Saturday was the mass swearing-in day for all Selangor state councillors at the Jubli Perak Hall in Shah Alam. Whilst Gurdip Kaur (Selayang) and I were delighted to receive our certificates from the Selangor Mentri Besar, we were disappointed to find the building’s toilets inaccessible to our wheelchairs.
We need to rectify this at once.
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